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BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE FUNDAMENTALS AND SYSTEMATICS – Vol. I – Speciation and Intra-Specific Taxa - P. J. Taylor,
G. Contrafatto
SPECIATION AND INTRA-SPECIFIC TAXA
P. J. Taylor
Durban Natural Science Museum, South Africa
G. Contrafatto
School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal Durban,
South Africa
Keywords: isolation, reproduction, species, sub-species, speciation, allopatric,
sympatric, parapatric, peripatric, stasipatric, divergence, drift, founder-effect, bottleneck, vicariance, reinforcement, post-zygotic, chromosome, centric fusion, tandem
fusion, hybridization, polyploidy.
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Contents
1. Introduction
2. Time frame for speciation
3. Ecological considerations
4. Genetic models of speciation
4.1. Speciation by natural selection
4.2. Wright’s shifting balance theory
4.3. Founder-effect models
4.4. How many “speciation genes”?
4.5. Genetic properties of species
5. Modes of speciation
5.1 Allopatric speciation
5.1.1 Intra-specific taxa
5.1.2 Clinal variation
5.1.3 Vicariance model
5.1.4 Peripatric model
5.1.5 Reinforcement
5.2. Parapatric speciation
5.3 Stasipatric speciation: the role of chromosomes
5.3.1 Chromosome rearrangements and meiotic segregation
5.3.2 Post-zygotic isolation: two case studies
5.4. Sympatric speciation
6. Speciation in plants
6.1. Speciation by polyploidy
6.2 Speciation by hybridization
7. Conclusions
Glossary
Bibliography
Biographical Sketches
Summary
The way one views speciation and the status of intra-specific taxa depends on the
species concept adopted, but most of the literature is based on the early thinking on
©Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS)
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE FUNDAMENTALS AND SYSTEMATICS – Vol. I – Speciation and Intra-Specific Taxa - P. J. Taylor,
G. Contrafatto
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species by Mayr and Wright. Conventionally understood speciation is typically thought
to be a slow event, accomplished over a few million years. However, there are many
examples of rapid speciation that have taken place over centuries or, as in many plants,
within the time-frame of one generation. An understanding of speciation can be
approached using population models that view the genetic structure of populations as
being molded by forces of natural selection, balance between selection and habitat
changes and selective forces acting upon small numbers of individuals. A number of
modes of speciation, on the other hand, have been suggested by taking into account the
effects of reproductive isolation on populations. Amongst these, geographic isolation
(allopatric mode) best accommodates the recognition of intra-specific taxa, such as subspecies and semi-species, albeit such recognition lacks objective criteria.
Chromosomally mediated reproductive isolation and speciation has been documented in
a number of mammals and many angiosperms, but does not apply to all cases of
speciation. Hence, a universal speciation mechanism has not yet been identified nor has
a universal speciation mode been recognized. Each of the available modes and
mechanisms of speciation probably applies to different environmental conditions. A
thorough understanding of speciation, therefore, rests on multidisciplinary analyses of
all possible contributing factors such as organism, molecular, chromosomal and habitat
diversities.
1. Introduction
The history of life on Earth is one of multiplication of species, and this has resulted in a
remarkable diversity of biological forms. Hence speciation, conventionally understood
as the formation of new species, assumes a pivotal role in explaining biodiversity.
The crucial event in the origin of a new species is the absence of gene flow between
populations which, within the framework of some species concepts, is referred to as
reproductive isolation. Reproductive isolation is conceptually convenient to facilitate
clear thinking of speciation modes and mechanisms, but can be applied comfortably
only to biparental organisms such as most vertebrates as well as many invertebrate and
plant taxa. Therefore, although this article focuses on speciation from the viewpoint of
the biological species, the concepts discussed here may not be consistent with
speciation of micro-organisms and organisms whose reproduction does not conform to
this mode. To understand how a new species comes into existence, we need to
understand how a barrier to interbreeding can evolve between the new species and its
ancestor. By the same token, in order to demonstrate a lack of gene flow, we need to be
informed of the genetic composition of the populations concerned. Such information is
eminently supplied by measurements of genetic variation using methods typical of
various disciplines such as biochemistry, cytogenetics, and molecular biology, amongst
others.
One of the basic problems of biology concerns how discontinuities (such as those
between closely related species) result from the essentially continuous process of
evolution. Darwin’s earlier notes and papers emphasized the importance of
geographical isolation in the process of speciation, a fact driven home to him—in
March 1837 after the voyage of the Beagle—by John Gould’s observations concerning
distinct species of mockingbirds (Mimus) occupying different islands of the Galapagos
Archipelago. However, according to Ernst Mayr, Darwin’s later writings (1850s
©Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS)
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE FUNDAMENTALS AND SYSTEMATICS – Vol. I – Speciation and Intra-Specific Taxa - P. J. Taylor,
G. Contrafatto
onwards) became preoccupied with explaining the origin of species on continents,
where geographical barriers are less obvious, and he leaned towards ecological
explanations for species formation, without requiring the presence of geographical
barriers. Darwin’s view of species as somewhat arbitrary “varieties” which underwent
gradual transformation into new varieties probably contributed towards his acceptance
of a process of gradual ecological divergence which did not require geographical
isolation. In 1872 Darwin argued against his contemporary, Moritz Wagner:
“I can by no means agree [with Wagner] that migration and isolation are necessary
elements for the formation of new species ... I believe that many perfectly defined
species have been formed on strictly continuous areas”.
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This notion of “sympatric speciation” was widely accepted as prevalent in nature by
Darwin’s followers, but it took others such as Wagner, Rensch, Jordan, Dobzhansky
and Mayr, to establish the universal importance of geographical isolation to the process
of reproductive isolation and speciation. Indeed the neo-Darwinian paradigm of
speciation is that of allopatric speciation: speciation that requires geographical isolation.
More than a century after Darwin’s publication of The Origin of Species, evolutionary
biologists are still actively debating the relative importance in nature of allopatric
versus non-allopatric, that is sympatric and parapatric, modes of speciation. The
possibility that reproductive isolation may be perfected by natural selection acting in
hybrid zones formed on secondary contact of allopatric populations (the theory of
reinforcement) is highly contentious. Speciation theory is beset with controversial ideas
and sharply opposed alternative viewpoints, e. g. concerning the adaptive nature of
speciation, the relative roles of natural selection and genetic drift, the possibility of
“founder-effect” (peripatric) speciation, and the role of chromosomal changes in
speciation.
Genetic analysis has contributed enormously to modern theories of speciation, by
explaining the genetic basis of reproductive isolation, testing the validity of alternative
speciation modes, and predicting the most likely speciation mode for different “genetic
architectures” of species.
2. Time frame for speciation
While palaeontologists typically measure speciation over many millions of years,
studies of extant species suggest that speciation, although usually gradual, can be rapid.
Reproductive isolation can be induced in fruit flies (Drosophila) in the laboratory over a
few generations. Diverse monophyletic “species-flocks” of cichlid fish occupying
different African great lakes, have speciated in a surprisingly short period. Evidence
from island-endemic species of cichlid fish in Lake Malawi, where these islands were
part of dry land not much more than a century ago, suggests that these species
originated in the past 100 years or so. It may be that strong sexual selection accelerates
speciation, since very high species richness is often associated with strong sexual
selection, such as the elaborate courtship displays found in birds of paradise
(Paradisaeidae: 42 species, almost all occurring on one island, New Guinea). Speciation
in plants may also be rapid. Most of the estimated 8 000 plant species occurring in the
Cape Floristic Region of South Africa have evolved during the past 5 million years,
©Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS)
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE FUNDAMENTALS AND SYSTEMATICS – Vol. I – Speciation and Intra-Specific Taxa - P. J. Taylor,
G. Contrafatto
leading some botanists to postulate, recently, an “ecological” mechanism of speciation
for the radiation of several plant genera of this region.
3. Ecological considerations
Mayr has remarked that “there is no geographic speciation that is not at the same time
ecological speciation and genetic speciation”. Ecological shifts and ecological selection
typically accompany geographical isolation of populations, especially in the case of
islands or small founder populations occupying new habitats that are marginal to the
parent population. Ecological selection will result in genetic divergence, which in turn
may result in pleiotropic effects on reproductive isolation. According to the recognition
concept of species, habitat shifts may cause changes in the co-adapted male-female
specific mate recognition system, leading directly to pre-zygotic isolation.
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A concrete example where ecological selection directly causes reproductive isolation is
known from Peter and Rosemary Grant’s lifelong work on Darwin’s ground finches
(Geospiza) of the Galapagos Islands. Beak size and shape are adapted to the seed diet of
this genus to an amazing degree. Overlapping diet between isolated species, strongly
correlates with similar beak shape whereas, co-existing species on the same island differ
in beak size and diet. Mate selection is based on bill size and, under experimental
conditions, males fail to court stuffed females of the “wrong” beak size or shape.
Whether ecological differences alone can drive speciation in the absence of
geographical isolation—as supposed by Darwin—is controversial, although modern
theories of sympatric and parapatric speciation propose just this. Very low dispersal
distances and the presence of very steep ecological gradients are regarded by some, as
key factors accounting for the floral species diversity of the Cape Floristic Region.
Hence “ecological theory” rather than geographical isolation, is being argued as the
most likely mechanism of speciation within this biome.
4. Genetic models of speciation
4.1. Speciation by natural selection
Dobzhansky and Muller developed, in the late 1930s, a simple two-locus genetic model
of reproductive isolation to account for the origin of post-zygotic isolation between two
geographically isolated, adaptively diverging populations. In this model, isolation arises
as an incidental by-product of adaptive divergence. An ancestral species of genotype
A1A1B1B1 evolves to A1A1B2B2 in one population (due to stabilizing selection for that
environment), and A2A2B1B1 in another (under stabilizing selection for a different
environment). Speciation would result if epistatic interactions between the A2 and B2
alleles caused complete sterility or non-viability of hybrids. In this case, hybrid
inferiority evolves between species without ever appearing within species: neither
species need cross an “adaptive valley” (see figure 1B). While the general model is best
interpreted against a background of natural selection acting on phenotypic characters, it
can also be used to explain allelic substitution by random genetic drift, although genetic
drift is usually associated with small populations (see figure 1A). This model can also
be used to explain sexual selection, involving interaction between genes affecting male
characters and those affecting female preference.
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BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE FUNDAMENTALS AND SYSTEMATICS – Vol. I – Speciation and Intra-Specific Taxa - P. J. Taylor,
G. Contrafatto
Figure 1. Speciation by peak shift (A) and adaptive divergence (B). Solid curve
represents the distribution of character x; broken curve represents the relation between
mean allele frequency of x and mean fitness (w). (A) Both speciating populations
occupy a similar environment, but in A’’ allele x evolves by genetic drift past the
adaptive trough or valley (T) and then, by selection to another adaptive peak (P2). (B)
One speciating population, B’’ occupies a changing environment and the frequency of x
evolves to a lower value by selective pressure thus resulting in divergence that confers
reproductive isolation.
According to Coyne, empirical demonstration of the above model, i. e. evidence that
reproductive isolation can arise as an incidental by-product of adaptive divergence, is
surprisingly scarce. Such evidence is limited to just two laboratory studies and one from
nature, involving the evolution of copper-tolerant alleles in a mine dump population of
the monkey flower (Mimulus guttatus) which are lethal in inter-population hybrids with
neighboring populations.
4.2. Wright’s shifting balance theory
The genetics of speciation, especially founder-effect models, is ultimately based on
Sewall Wright’s shifting balance theory of evolution, proposed in 1931. This theory
uses the metaphor of an adaptive landscape to depict variation in fitness between
genotypes in a population. This landscape is three dimensional, with a plane of gene
combinations being contoured with fitness values, where peaks represent high fitness
and valleys low fitness (see figures 2 and 1A).
With changes in the environment, peaks and valleys may move relative to populations.
While stabilizing selection forces a population towards the nearest peak, genetic drift
may cause a population to override selection and move away from the peak. Similarly,
subdivision of a large population into small semi-isolated demes, can overcome the
effects of stabilizing selection. A peak shift—across an “adaptive valley” —represents a
speciation event (see figures 2B and 1B). Alan R. Templeton provides a useful analogy
for understanding how selection and drift can act together in producing adaptive
©Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS)
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE FUNDAMENTALS AND SYSTEMATICS – Vol. I – Speciation and Intra-Specific Taxa - P. J. Taylor,
G. Contrafatto
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evolution and speciation. By hypothetically inverting the adaptive landscape surface, so
that peaks become valleys and valleys peaks, and by imagining demes to be balls,
selection acts like gravity, causing the balls to fall into the nearest hole (adaptive peak).
Drift is analogous to someone physically shaking the surface from side to side, causing
balls to roll out of their holes and into other nearby holes.
Figure 2. Shifting balance illustrated by adaptive landscapes
4.3. Founder-effect models
All following models of speciation by founder-effect share the concept of random drift
establishing new gene combinations, which are then acted upon by selection.
From 1942 onwards, Mayr developed the basic idea of founder-effect speciation
whereby a small number of individuals separated from the parent population, undergo a
rapid loss of genetic variation, i. e. increased homozygosity, due to drift and inbreeding
and selection acts against deleterious combinations in homozygotes. These conditions
are hypothesized to facilitate radical changes in the genome due to epistatic effects, and
the formation of new gene combinations which are subjected to novel selection
processes. This radical process was termed “genetic revolution” by Mayr, and underpins
Mayr’s concept of peripatric speciation (see figure 2). These conditions of small
population size and random drift allow the chance fixation of chromosomal
rearrangements resulting in inferior hybrids which would otherwise be removed by
selection. In this way, post-zygotic isolation, through hybrid dysgenesis and potentially
©Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS)
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE FUNDAMENTALS AND SYSTEMATICS – Vol. I – Speciation and Intra-Specific Taxa - P. J. Taylor,
G. Contrafatto
speciation, can be acquired rapidly in peripatric isolates.
Two variants of this model have been presented by Carson and by Templeton,
respectively.
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Carson’s flush-crash-founder model also requires a population bottleneck as shown in
figure 3, but does not envisage reduced genetic variation associated with this. The
model predicts population growth associated with favorable environmental conditions,
resulting in relaxed selective pressure. Under relaxed selection, new combinations of
strongly epistatic genes are produced which would be selected against in the ancestral
population. This stage is followed by a population crash (bottleneck) leading to nearextinction of the population, with just a few survivors bearing new gene combinations
occurring in high frequencies as the population subsequently increases and a new
selective regime is imposed.
Figure 3. Diagram of speciation modes
Unlike Mayr’s theory, which is primarily concerned with stochastic fixation of alleles
and/or chromosomal rearrangements, Carson’s model views the major effect of the
founder event as being the disruption of the homeostatic, co-adapted “closed system” of
the parental species. This disruption would lead to major changes in polygenic balances
affecting integrated developmental, behavioral and physiological traits. Disorganization
of the parental genome is regarded as necessary for the subsequent reorganization under
the new selection regime. A variation of the flush-crash-founder model is the founderflush model which postulates a flush following, rather than preceding, a founder event.
The genetic transilience model of Templeton, differs from Mayr’s model in that founder
events do not trigger genome-wide genetic “revolutions” but, rather, more subtle
changes at few major gene loci and their epistatic modifiers. Variation remains high
©Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS)
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE FUNDAMENTALS AND SYSTEMATICS – Vol. I – Speciation and Intra-Specific Taxa - P. J. Taylor,
G. Contrafatto
throughout the bottleneck but, abrupt changes occur in allele frequencies of such few
major genes resulting in strong selection on the modifier genes.
Some evidence exists for genetic reorganization, from experimental bottlenecks induced
in laboratory colonies of flies. The patterns of endemism in the diverse monophyletic
lineages of Drosophila in the Hawaiian Archipelago provide circumstantial evidence for
speciation associated with founding events on islands. For example, the common
pattern of single-island endemism, with sister species of endemics occurring on adjacent
islands, strongly indicates that speciation is associated with colonization of an island.
4.4. How many “speciation genes”?
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The standard genetic model of reproductive isolation discussed in Section 5.1, assumes
a minimum of two genetic loci to be necessary for speciation to occur. The classical
neo-Darwinian viewpoint assumes that isolating factors are polygenic, a conclusion
supported by experimental studies in Drosophila. Also, at least 150 genes are thought to
have been responsible for the non-viability of hybrids between two chromosomal races
of the grasshopper Podisma pedestris. At the other extreme, pre-zygotic isolation in
snails is apparently caused by single mutations that change the direction of the coiling,
making copulation impossible. In the corn borer, ethological isolation is caused by
changes in sex pheromone production and perception mediated by three genes.
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Bibliography
See also Bibliography for Species Concepts.
Capanna E., Ciabatti C. M., Civitelli M. V. and Corti M. (1988). Evolution in the cellar: karyotype
variability and speciation in European house mice. Animal and Human Biology, an annual report of the
Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e dell'Uomo, Universita' di Roma “La Sapienza”. Vol 1: 33-54 [A
synthesis of several research papers on the cytogenetics of the house mouse]
Capanna E., Corti M. and Nascetti G. (1985). Role of contact areas in chromosomal speciation of the
European long-tailed mouse (Mus musculus domesticus). Bollettino di Zoologia. 52: 97-119. [One of the
research papers reviewed in the synthesis listed above]
Capanna E., Gropp A., Winking H., Noack G. and Civitelli M-V. (1976). Robertsonian metacentrics in
the mouse. Chromosoma. 58: 341-353. [One of the research papers reviewed in the synthesis listed
above]
Contrafatto G. (1996). Chromosomal evolution in the vlei rat Otomys irroratus. Ph. D. Thesis, University
of Natal. [Detailed description of stasipatric speciation in the vlei rat, with paleo-climatic considerations.
Also available in PDF from the author. e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]]
©Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS)
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE FUNDAMENTALS AND SYSTEMATICS – Vol. I – Speciation and Intra-Specific Taxa - P. J. Taylor,
G. Contrafatto
Coyne J.A. (1992). Genetics and speciation. Nature, 355, 511-515. [This article reviews the genetic basis
of reproductive isolation]
Grant V. (1971). Plant Speciation. New York: Columbia University Press. [Good overview of plant
speciation]
Harrison R.G. (Ed.) (1993). Hybrid Zones and the Evolutionary Process. New York: Oxford University
Press. [Includes case studies of animals and plants addressing the complex and contentious subject of
hybrid zones]
King, M. (1993). Species evolution: the role of chromosome change. [An extensive coverage of
chromosome rearrangements, and their mechanisms, involved in speciation. This book is a must for those
seeking a deeper understanding of cytogenetics]
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Mayr E. (1963). Animal Species and Evolution, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press. [Detailed study providing a large body of evidence for allopatric speciation and the
Biological Species Concept]
Otte D. and Endler J.A. (ed.) (1989). Speciation and its Consequences. Sinauer Associates: Sunderland,
MA [Diverse and thought-provoking collection of essays on speciation and species concepts]
White M.J.D. (1978). Modes of Speciation. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman & Company. [Provides a
thorough review of the prior vast literature on speciation; this author has championed models of
chromosomal speciation]
Biographical Sketches
Peter John Taylor was born in January 1963. A Zimbabwean citizen by birth, married with four young
children, Peter Taylor obtained his B.Sc. from the University of Cape Town in 1983, with Zoology and
Botany as majors. His B.Sc. (Honours), also from University of Cape Town, was obtained in 1984. His
Ph.D., on "Infraspecific systematics of the yellow mongoose (Cynictis penicillata)", was obtained from
the University of Natal Durban in 1990.
Peter Taylor was a volunteer/student at the Mammal Department of the Transvaal Museum and later
Scientific Assistant to the late Prof. J.A. Meester, at the University of Natal. He took up his present post
as Curator of Mammals at the Durban Natural Science Museum in July 1989. His research at the Museum
is centered on the evolution, classification and conservation of small mammals including vlei rats, bats,
shrews and mongooses.
Peter Taylor has published 48 scientific papers and 10 popular science articles since 1985 and presented
scientific papers at six overseas conferences (in Britain, Rome, Israel, Brazil, Australia and France), as
well as at several local conferences. His book on "The smaller mammals of KwaZulu-Natal" was
published by University of Natal Press in 1998, and a full color popular field guide on "Bats of Southern
Africa" was published in November 2000. He belongs to the Wildlife Society of Southern Africa, the
Zoological Society of Southern Africa, the Natal Evolutionary Biology Society and the Southern African
Museums Association (Natal Branch).
Peter Taylor founded the Durban Bat Interest Group (DBIG) in February 1994. The group currently
numbers some 150 individuals, and was nominated for the "Conservationist of the Year" award by the
KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service.
Giancarlo Contrafatto, born 1948, is a graduate in Biological Sciences from the University of Turin
(Italy) and obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Natal Durban (South Africa). His research interests
are isolation mechanisms related to speciation of small mammals. Recipient of the 1976 British
Association Medal from the South African Association for the Advancement of Science. G. Contrafatto
has been on the staff of the University of Natal since 1983, and is responsible for the courses of
Microbiology, Immunology, Comparative Immunology, Systematics and Evolution.
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